And so there was rain, and wind!!

"Situation; a high passes over the south of South Island on Saturday followed by a strong northerly flow. A deepening depression moves over the area on Sunday morning followed by strong southerly flow. A ridge passes by Sunday night followed by a cold front........". How nice. "Forecast til midnight Sunday: northerly 25 increasing 35 becoming 45 to 55 Sunday afternoon. High Seas, Northerly swell 3 metres, poor visibility in rain". Not a great forecast for the sort of sailing conditions I prefer.
Give me 15 knots, maximum obviously, and a quiet tropical anchorage, or maybe one of my old anchorages off a pub in the U.K. east coast rivers. So what are we doing in this latest breeze?

Yesterday we found a small outcrop of rock that gave about three metres by ten metres of shelter, anchored the dinghy. Anchoring is a loose term for lowering 20 metes of chain and warp over the side and the first one in the water gets to dive down and shove it in a crack in the rock face, or if we are really lucky we can tie to an overhanging branch. On this trip we had a small shelf 20 metres below us on the sheer cliff of the Fiord. Having both entered the water and checked the anchor lie was causing
no damage we slowly descended. At just over 40 metres we sat and looked up to see the surface above. A clear view. Little rain over the previous few days (it all came as snow) have given really good visibility in the water. AS we slowly ascended we passed Black and Red Corals, Nudibranchs, Crayfish the size of very large things and a myriad of small life. It was truly an impressive dive. It seems that you just need to drop over the side to have a great dive here. The cold got the better of me and
we both re-surfaced after 20 minutes. Three metres from our anchored position we re-entered the rough waters of Charles Sound and made a quick trip back to the yacht with big gusts following us up the fiord. Back aboard it was time to warm up and enjoy a chat about the dive. A good book saw the afternoon pass pleasantly by.

The wind is stronger today, just as forecast. Well, it's windier "out there". We sit quietly snugged up to a line tied between two islands. The Island lying about 5 metres from us gives good protection from the wind while the second Island blankets the swell that would otherwise make us roll a little. Every now and then a big gust catches the top of the mast a heels us one way, then passing on allows us to rock back and forth a bit. The rain is with us and has been falling steadily all day. A quick
trip out in the RIB has been our main activity today. We had a look to see if the penguins we had spotted a few days earlier were still about but it seems they were more sensible than us. After watching several good gusts ripping up spray as they passed dwn the fiord we had a quick trip back to the quiet of the anchorage. What better way to revitalise after our 'exploration' than a nice warm cabin, a freshly made hot cross bun, a good book and a little music.

We will soon have to push on from this lovely spot. The forecast gives a light northerly in a few days and even I have run out of excuses why it would be too windy. After a week will we have only just started to settle in a discover some the many treasures this little area holds. There is so much more to do but we also have to move towards Bluff to be able to 'check in' with DOC prior to our planned departure to points south. It seems our almost three months we will be spending in Fiordland will
not be enough to see all we want to.

I quite like the rain now, and the wind is getting more of a friend. This is not because I'm 'toughening up', mmmmmm give me that lovely 15 knots, no it's beacuse in the pouring rain or winds of 40 knots I haven't seen a single Sandfly. I know with marine reserves and national parks just about everything is protected but I hope the Sandfly is an exception or I'm in big trouble.

Its probably time to go now as a cloud of smoke coming out of the heater tells we that last gust blew down the chimney putting the heater out. I'll have to fight past the mattress drying above the heater before I can relight it. But to get there I have to climb over the wet towels positioned to catch the drips from the leaking deck hatches and then negotiate through the wet clothes hanging up to dry. If the mattress dries, the locker under the bunk gets aired and the bed sheets are finished steaming
by tonight I'll have a dry sleep. To cap all that my slippers are wet!